Cheap option to make my Yamaha AV receiver a Roon Endpoint

Looking into using roon but i need my second zone to be RAAT compatible (for zone syncing). My second zone consists of a Yamaha RX-A1070 receiver. My first zone is a media PC running USB into my DAC.

I am aware that syncing zones can only be done with “like” endpoints. Any hardware thats inexpensive and plug n play to make my setup work?

Thanks!

Cheapest endpoint going is a Google Chromecast device with the HDMI output going into the Yamaha receiver but these endpoints are not RAAT compatible.

Gotcha! So because the Chromecast is not RAAT, my two zones won’t sync up right?

https://www.hifiberry.com

RPI3 HiFiBerry player. Roon Ready. You can buy a DAC type, or a digital type…small kit you build yourself.

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I believe that is correct. Check the HiFiBerry player mentioned above. There are tons of people using these so you should be able to get an answer on whether or not they are compatible with RAAT.

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Sounds good! I’ll check

That receiver already has a DAC inside it – can’t he just set up a $60 Raspberry Pi running RoPieee and connect the HDMI out from the Pi into one of the receiver’s inputs?

Is there a Pi that’s assembled and ready to go I can buy or no?

Not quite. You buy a kit like this one, then snap the parts together. Put the board in the case, put the heatsinks on the board, put the top on, copy RoPieee to the SD card, and put the card in the case. That’s it.

HDMI audio is disabled in Ropieee I think.
If your receiver does not have a USB in to its DAC (not just for a portable iPod type player) then you need a spdif HAT. HiFiBerry digi+ is a proven and cost effective solution that should easily come to less than $100 for Pi, HAT, case and PSU.

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As Henry says, HDMI output is not possible using Ropieee. I think (going by this post) it may be possible using DietPi, but it also looks to be dependent on the hardware used.

Also, will the HDMI channel on a RPi setup support multichannel or just stereo?

I know that using a PC or a ROCK-based NUC will definitely support multichannel audio, but then we start to push against the definition of “cheap”.

A RPi running RoPieee, an Audioquest DragonFly Black or Red and a 3.5 mm stereo jack to RCA cable and you are set.

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Pioneer Elite AVR here. HiFiBerry Digi + RPi3 + Roopiee output over Toslink. No muss, no fuss after initial setup.

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This is an old thread, but for anyone else looking to get the best quality out of older Yamaha Receivers. Cheapest option with bit perfect sound that I could find was installing LMS-to-UPNP on a raspberry pi (it also supports Windows / Mac and a lot of other platforms). Configure it in Roon mode and then let it discover the Amp. Look in the manual of the Amp to see what bitrate is supported and configure it as such (mine was capable of 24-bit/96000). Enable Squeezebox support in Roon. Also make sure RMC (Remote Media Control) is on in the amp. Now Roon will play music to the Yamaha amp via DLNA. It will pass the flac stream directly to the Amp without altering it unless it is of higher bitrate than the Amp can handle or when you enable DSP filters on the stream. The difference between this and Airplay / Apple TV / other intermediate lossy solutionz is day and night.

For the less technical, RooExtend has a Raspberry Pi distro with a ready-made extension that essentially does this without all the hassle of tinkering at a very reasonable price.

the lesstechnical don’t have a clue about a ‘distro’.